Gail (25
Oct 2011)"Commodity- any marketable item
produced to satisfy wants or needs"

Daniel 8:25

And through his policy also he
shall cause craft to prosper in his hand;
and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by
peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against
the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without
hand.

Commodity traders:
The trillion dollar club

Fri, Oct 21, 2011

NEW YORK (Reuters)- For the small club of companies who
trade the food, fuels and metals that keep the world
running, the last decade has been sensational.
Driven by the rise of Brazil, China, India(BRIC
Nations) and other fast-growing economies, the global
commodities boom has turbocharged profits at the
world's biggest trading houses.

They form an exclusive group, whose loosely regulated
members are often based in such tax havens as Switzerland.
Together, they are worth over a trillion dollars in annual
revenue and control more than half the world's freely traded
commodities.Their reach is expanding. Big trading firms now
own a growing number of the mines that produce many of our
commodities, the ships and pipelines that carry them, and
the warehouses, silos and ports where they are stored. With
their connections and inside knowledge -- commodities
markets are mostly free of insider-trading restrictions --
trading houses have become power brokers, especially in
fast-developing Asia, Latin America and Africa.

How big are the biggest trading houses? Put it this way:
two of them, Vitol and Trafigura, sold a combined 8.1
million barrels a day of oil last year. That's equal to the
combined oil exports of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela

The trading houses' talent and deep pockets
translate into incredible power. "Most commodity
buyers in the world are price takers. The top trading firms
are price makers," said Chris Hinde, editor of London-based
Mining Journal. "It puts them in a tremendous position."

The old guard now faces a challenge from a new breed of Asian
competitors. Companies like Hong Kong-based Noble
and Singapore's Olam and Hin Leong are not new, but they are
spreading their wings as China's influence in commodities
markets increases. Chinese state funds have flowed into
Noble and private Asian traders. As China's clout grows,
it's very likely that Chinese firms will build trading
dynasties of their own.

Daniel 8:9,10,

“And out of one of them came
forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding
great, toward the south,
and toward the east,
and toward the pleasant
land. And it waxed great, even to the
host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and
of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.”